Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather

Hearing Li Dagui's words, Li Baoshan slowly sat up, "Who are you?"

"I met you once, maybe you still remember me!" Li Dagui said.

Li Baoshan held a long knife and lifted the curtain, looking at the figure sitting next to his bed.

The light in the room was very dim, he could only see a figure, and couldn't see the face of the person at all.

"Can you light a candle?"

Li Dagui took out the fire starter as if nothing had happened and lit the candle next to him.

The flickering candlelight ignited, and there was a light in the dark room.

Li Baoshan got off the bed, put on his boots, and then carefully observed Li Dagui's face.

"Who are you?"

Unfortunately, he didn't remember Li Dagui!

Li Dagui didn't care, took out Yang Mingzhao's letter and handed it to him, "This is a letter from my son to you!"

Li Baoshan hesitated for a moment, but he still took the letter.

In this moment, he thought a lot.

The person in front of him was definitely not an acquaintance of his, but since the other party said that he had met him, he must have dealt with him before, or it should be said that the force this person belonged to had dealt with him before.

And it can be confirmed that this person is related to the rebels outside the city.

Apart from the rebels outside the city, he couldn't think of anyone else who would visit at this time late at night.

Opening the letter, he silently read the contents of the letter.

Yang Mingzhao's letter was very long. It not only revealed his identity, but also explained the situation in Taiping County, and even made it clear how he would deal with the officials and rich families in the city next.

This naturally includes the Li family represented by Li Baoshan.

Yang Mingzhao would naturally not kill all the martial arts forces. As long as the martial arts forces were willing to join him, he would also give preferential treatment.

When dividing the land, they would leave more land for them.

At the same time, some profitable businesses would be handed over to the martial arts forces to operate.

For example, the Li family where Li Baoshan was, Yang Mingzhao promised to take out ten salt wells as compensation for the divided land.

In addition to the fields, the Li family can also retain the houses and shops in the city.

In fact, if you really count them, the Li family only suffered a small loss.

Salt wells are definitely more profitable than fields, but for Yang Mingzhao, fields are more meaningful than salt wells.

Fields can be distributed to ordinary people, but salt wells cannot be distributed to ordinary people. Ordinary people do not have the ability or financial resources to operate a salt well.

The Li family will operate the salt wells, and the Li family will also hire cooks. As long as the income of the cooks and the price of well salt can be guaranteed, it will be a good thing.

As for where the salt wells come from?

Naturally, they are snatched from the hands of those big families or martial arts families who are unwilling to surrender.

In short, it is to beat a group and pull a group, and use the assets of the group that was beaten to win over those martial arts forces who are willing to surrender.

In this way, Yang Mingzhao will not become the public enemy of all martial arts forces, and at the same time he can also obtain a large amount of fields to distribute to the people.

Of course, this is only a preferential treatment for martial arts forces. If it is an ordinary gentry landlord, then I can only say sorry.

If they cooperate with the land distribution, they can keep their floating wealth. If they don't cooperate, men will be forced to do labor and women will be remarried.

Rebellion is a very cruel thing, which means the redistribution of wealth and benefits.

Yang Mingzhao made these plans just because he figured it out.

And he has his own principles. He will not accept martial arts forces with bad reputations even if they take the initiative to surrender to him.

After reading the contents of the letter, Li Baoshan's eyes fell on the last private seal.

"Yang Mingzhao, the fourth master of the Yang family!"

He thought silently in his heart. He still knew something about the Yang family.

For example, Yang Zhengshan has four sons, Yu Qingyi is Yang Zhengshan's second wife, and the fourth master of the Yang family is the biological son of Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi.

These are not secrets. You can find out by asking around in the martial arts pavilion before.

"Why is the fourth master here?" Li Baoshan asked.

Li Dagui grinned, "This is a long story. You just need to know that the Fourth Master is the leader of the Taiping Army!"

Li Baoshan nodded, then put the letter on the candle and lit it.

"Is the old marquis okay?"

The old marquis he was talking about was naturally Yang Zhengshan, not Yang Mingcheng.

"Very good, he has been traveling for three years and hasn't returned home yet!" Li Dagui said.

"So the old marquis doesn't know about this!" Li Baoshan said.

"I don't know!" Li Dagui said.

"This is really a difficult decision! If the old marquis agrees with this, I will surrender the city without hesitation, but if it's just the Fourth Master, I need to think about it!"

The burning light of the letter paper illuminated Li Baoshan's face. His expression was very calm and his eyes were very deep.

Li Dagui looked at him silently, then raised his lips slightly, "Okay, I'll give you a day to think about it. I'll come again at this time tomorrow!"

Li Baoshan nodded slightly, "Goodbye!"

Li Dagui stood up and looked at the ashes on the ground, "This is an opportunity for you, I hope you don't miss it!"

Li Baoshan looked at his back for a long time without saying a word.

An opportunity?

It is indeed an opportunity!

It is an opportunity for him and the Li family.

He now has the seventh level of acquired cultivation, but he is almost forty years old. If there is no opportunity, his highest level of cultivation in this life will not exceed the eighth level of acquired cultivation.

As for the Li family, with him in the Li family in Baoning Prefecture, the Li family is considered a powerful force, but once he dies, the Li family will be instantly beaten back to its original form and become an insignificant small family.

For him, the Yang family is a strong and powerful support. Once he can hold it, it will definitely be an opportunity.

But it was not Yang Zhengshan who recruited him, but Yang Mingzhao.

Whether Yang Mingzhao can represent the Yang family is a question mark in his mind.

But for him, Yang Mingzhao is also a support.

Even if Yang Mingzhao cannot represent the Yang family, he is still a strong support for him.

The arrival of Li Dagui can illustrate this point.

Although he could not see through Li Dagui's cultivation, he knew that Li Dagui's cultivation was far above his.

Li Baoshan sat and waited until dawn. After dawn, he immediately came to the city wall and observed the camp outside the city with a telescope.

Li Baoshan is not a reckless person. On the contrary, he is an extremely cautious person.

He observed the camp outside the city to see Yang Mingzhao's ability.

He wanted to see the quality of Yang Mingzhao's support.

Yang Mingzhao's character should be good, after all, he governed Taiping County very well.

What is Yang Mingzhao's ability?

We can't hug thighs randomly. This leg must not only be thick and strong, but also solid and reliable.

The camp outside the city is in order. Although some soldiers are poorly equipped, it can be seen that they are soldiers who have been trained for a long time.

This is enough to show that Yang Mingzhao is not reckless. He is really training soldiers seriously and doing things in a down-to-earth manner.

After observing for a while, Li Baoshan stood on the city wall and pondered for a long time before turning back to the city.

He returned home and called the housekeeper at home.

"Go and get all the land deeds and property deeds of our family!"

The housekeeper asked in confusion: "Master, all the land deeds and property deeds?"

Li Baoshan nodded, "All of them, and all the IOUs."

No mistake, one sentence, one post, one content, one content, one book, one bar, one book, one bar, one book!

Although the housekeeper didn't know what Li Baoshan was going to do, he still obediently moved all the land deeds, property deeds and IOUs over.

There were three large boxes in the hall, and Li Baoshan checked them one by one.

In Darong, the Li family was just a small family, but in Baoning Prefecture, the Li family was a powerful family.

The Li family did not have many people. Li Baoshan's father had three brothers, and Li Baoshan's generation had four cousins. The younger generation had more, with four adults and five boys who were not yet adults.

As for the collateral line, there were many. The Li family had been passed down in Baoning Prefecture for many years, and the number of Li clan members in Baoning Prefecture was difficult to count.

Some of those collateral clan members were close to Li Baoshan, but more of them had already left the direct line and were self-reliant.

The so-called Li family actually only referred to the three brothers of Li Baoshan's father's generation. Although Li Baoshan was not the oldest in the Li family, he was the head of the Li family.

So the land deeds and land deeds in his hand belonged to the Li family.

Looking at the land deeds and land deeds, Li Baoshan frowned.

Looking at the IOUs again, he could not help but sigh.

IOUs, that is, usury!

Lending at high interest rates is the most common means used by gentry and landlords to annex land.

Ordinary people have a low ability to resist disasters. Whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, as long as they encounter a little difficulty, they may not be able to survive.

Many gentry and landlords will lend money at high interest rates to help their fellow villagers through difficulties. They say it is to help, but the interest rate is very high. Nine out of 13 returns is the most common.

Often, before the people can get through the current difficulties, they can no longer pay back the usury in their hands.

Small landlords and self-cultivating farmers use their land to repay debts and become tenants. Tenants who have no land to repay debts can only sell their children and send their children to the homes of gentry and landlords as slaves and maids.

Some tenants even owe usury to the landlords for generations. They don’t even know how much they owe from these IOUs.

The gentry and landlords controlled the tenants with these IOUs.

The tenants became poorer and poorer, owed more and more money, and their descendants could not get out of poverty.

These IOUs were a huge mountain weighing on the tenants.

Yang Mingzhao did not only divide the land among the people in Taiping County, but also burned all the IOUs and issued a notice in the name of the county government, no longer recognizing all the previous usury.

The conditions that Yang Mingzhao gave to Li Baoshan naturally included the abolition of all IOUs.

After reading the land deeds and IOUs, Li Baoshan understood why Yang Mingzhao did this.

A glimpse of the whole picture.

The Li family had 30,000 acres of fertile land and thousands of IOUs. What about other families?

"Forget it, there is no use in keeping these things!"

Li Baoshan threw all the deeds and IOUs into the box, and then told the housekeeper: "Put these away. I need them these days. Don't give them to anyone except me, including my father!"

He doesn't value these things, but it doesn't mean that other people in the Li family don't value them.

Family members know their own affairs. If everyone in the Li family knew that they had to take all these out, many people would probably cry for their parents.

Now Li Baoshan has no time to persuade the elders in the family one by one. As for the future, he will persuade them if he can, and force them if he can't.

He is the head of the family, the person with the highest cultivation in the Li family, and the face of the Li family.

Although he has his father and two uncles above him, he has the confidence to make his own decisions.

"Yes!" The housekeeper responded immediately.

As a housekeeper, he naturally knows who is in charge of this family, and he naturally dares not disobey Li Baoshan's orders.

At night, Li Baoshan returned to the Shangwusi Yamen and sat in the bedroom waiting for Li Dagui's arrival.

"It seems you have made a decision!" Li Dagui arrived as promised.

Li Baoshan stood up, poured tea for Li Dagui, and said, "Senior, please have tea!"

Li Dagui was not afraid of him being poisoned, so he picked up the tea and drank it casually.

"I am willing to serve the Fourth Master, but I have two conditions!" Li Baoshan said.

"Please say! As long as it is not too much, I can promise you!" Li Dagui said.

Li Baoshan said, "First, I can open the city gate and ask the Fourth Master to lead troops into the city, but I hope that the soldiers under the Fourth Master will not come to the city!"

Li Baoshan has also heard of the rebels' sexual nature.

The rebels in southern Bashu were burning, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evil. Although he felt that the soldiers under Yang Mingzhao would not do such a rude thing, he still wanted to mention it.

Maintaining the stability of Baoning Mansion City is good for him and Yang Mingzhao.

He is from Baoning Mansion. The Li family has lived in Baoning Mansion for generations. He does not want him and the Li family to be poked by their hometown in the future.

After Yang Mingzhao takes over Baoning Mansion, he will also manage Baoning Mansion. For Yang Mingzhao, a stable Baoning Mansion will definitely be more beneficial than a chaotic Baoning Mansion.

"Haha, don't worry about this. Our Taiping Army has not violated the people at all! We want to maintain the stability of Baoning Mansion more than you!" Li Dagui said with a smile.

Li Baoshan nodded and said, "Second, this is not a condition, it should be a suggestion. I suggest that the Fourth Master kill many prefect Li Wenchun and persuade Li Wenchun to surrender as much as possible!"

"Li Wenchun is a capable and good official. If he can conquer Li Wenchun, it will only benefit but not harm the Fourth Master!"

Li Dagui thought for a while and said, "I can't guarantee you this matter. If Li Wenchun is smelly and hard, it will be difficult for us to persuade him, but I can guarantee you that we will not kill him, nor will we. Persecuted his family.”

When Li Baoshan heard this, he bowed and bowed, "I have already understood the intentions of seniors. I am willing to work hard for the Fourth Master. I would like to recommend them!"

Li Dagui looked at him with satisfaction, "Get up, let's talk about how you plan to open the city gate!"

"It's simple. Tomorrow morning, seniors can just wait outside the North City Gate. Juniors will open the city gate!" said Li Baoshan.

For Li Baoshan, it is easy to open the city gate.

Which soldier guarding the city gate dared not to obey his orders?

More importantly, he had long inserted the Wuwei Military Office between the soldiers and the officers. It can be said that he was the highest military commander in the city, and the Wuwei Military Officer in the Shangwu Military Officer were all middle-level officers of the army in the city.

Of course, his previous arrangement was not to facilitate the surrender of the city, but to better command the soldiers and officers in the city to fight.